The present invention generally relates to devices used to remove snow from the roofs of houses and other tall buildings and similar surfaces and especially from pitched or inclined roofs and like surfaces.
The build-up of snow on roofs can cause serious problems if melting occurs creating ice dams causing water to back up under shingles and leak through the roof into the house or other building. Also, if the weight of the snow becomes too heavy for the roof to support, caving in of the roof from the weight of snow and water accumulated on the roof can result in dumping snow and water into the house or like building. Thus, not only must the roof itself be repaired, but anything in the interior of the house or like building that acquired water damage must be replaced or repaired. Additionally, this is often a problem which can occur annually.
One solution to snow build-up is to remove snow off the roofs of houses and like buildings. A common method of snow removal is shoveling which creates a risk of slipping and falling and places undue strain on the back of the shoveler. Additionally, shovels can only remove a certain amount of snow at a time causing the person shoveling to be subjected to the cold for a longer time than is necessary. Also, shoveling can damage the roof from the shovel being forcefully pushed into the shingles in attempts to remove the bottom layer of snow from the roof.
Other methods such as raking the snow off roofs can cause the snow to fall on top of the person trying to remove the snow and limits the ability to reach the highest or middle part of the roof if the handle is too short. Unless the person using prior rakes climbed onto the roof, which makes accidents more likely, the amount of snow that would get removed would be minimal. Additionally, rakes could pull shingles from the roof or otherwise damage them when the rake is dragged across them.
Other prior snow removal devices use a flexible sheet wrapped around a rod of a U-shaped frame that is pushed or pulled by an attachment across the roof breaking through the snow and causing it to slide down the flexible sheet. While avoiding many of the deficiencies encountered by shovels and snow roof rakes, the problem with such prior snow removal devices is that the flexible sheet that is wrapped around the rod is forced into the snow unprotected and is likely to rip and therefor frequently is in need of repair. Also, if snow is hardened, pushing the looped sheet and rod through the snow could prove to be quite difficult.
Thus, a need continues to exist for devices for removing snow from roofs and like surfaces which overcome the deficiencies experienced by prior snow removal techniques and which makes this task quicker, easier and safer.